racking & bottiling trub = bottle bombs?

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shanek17

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Something happened to me months ago and i bet you already guessed it haha. Bottle bombs. Or i should say bomb. I had 1 bottle i opened up to taste and it just sprayed everywhere, iv never seen anythin like it. It was just under so much pressure.

I was doing an experiment with 1 gallon beer and chocolate cocoa powder. When i bottled i got most of the liquid bottled and looked at the carboy noticing just enough liquid for another beer! unfortunately i racked some trub (junk in the bottom of fermenter which contains yeast and what not) over to the bottle. Not knowing any better i bottled it and seen it as an experiment within a expeiment! Well something happened because later when i opened it it exploded up an out! So im narrowin if down to the fact that the trub was filled with high population of yeast and this is why. The weird thing is i didnt add prime it with sugar. .. So maybe it was infection....i dunno?
 
Hello,

I have noticed the same phenomena with some of my beers. Usually IPA's with a lot of unsettled sediment (making a wort chiller has helped drastically with this). I have a few theories why this happens but no concrete answers. The first reason is that the trub is filled with large complex proteins which settle out and our not easily fermentable. Unfortunately in the bottle the yeast has the time to break down the carbs and over carbonate the beer. The other theory is that the yeast cannabolize on each other and use the high volume of dead yeast cells in the trub as food to make more co2. Either way give your beers at least two weeks to ferment per 5% abv and check for stalled fermentations.

Adam
 
I think what can happen with excessive trub, especially if it didn't pack down in a smooth layer, is that it provides nucleation sites for CO2. That is, the bottles are not over carbonated, they are just more inclined to gush due to the rough surface.

I know I've had bottles gush, but then the remaining beer is not very carbed at all, which is why I think the added nucleation sites may be what's going on.
 
Hello,

The other theory is that the yeast cannabolize on each other and use the high volume of dead yeast cells in the trub as food to make more co2.

This actually sounds plausible to me.

Funny that you had this happen with a batch that contained cocoa powder. The only batch I ever had turn to gushers on me was a batch that was boiled and secondaried with cocoa powder.
 
everyone seems to have missed the one correct post :drunk:

It had to have been done. all my other beers were perfectly fine and i actually primed them with sugar. The one thst exploded wasnt primed with sugar. Which is bizzare to me.... The only difference i noticed between them other than the priming sugar was the fact that the beer that exploded contained alot of trub and lees. Perhaps there was condensed co2 in the trub just waitin to fly out!
 
I think what can happen with excessive trub, especially if it didn't pack down in a smooth layer, is that it provides nucleation sites for CO2. That is, the bottles are not over carbonated, they are just more inclined to gush due to the rough surface.

I know I've had bottles gush, but then the remaining beer is not very carbed at all, which is why I think the added nucleation sites may be what's going on.

this.
 
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